


Satus

by ravenangel



Series: Building a Life Series [13]
Category: Generation Kill
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:53:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6825943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenangel/pseuds/ravenangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brad gives everyone a scare and has a set back that puts him back in the hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shock

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. Nothing is mine and nothing is associated with any of the real people, I'm just here to borrow the characters. No harm intended and all mistakes are my own. This is another tale in the Waiting to Breathe verse.
> 
> Status Epilepticus - is said to occur when a seizure lasts too long or when seizures occur close together and the person doesn't recover between seizures.

Shock

Brad had been doing so well that their current situation seemed surreal. He was walking unassisted most of the time. His epilepsy was so stable in the last four months that they were actually in the process of slowly weaning him off his anticonvulsant, testing to see if a lower dose would work or if it would even be necessary to continue the medication. Everything was going so smoothly, he was down to just physical therapy three days a week at the hospital along with his daily therapy sessions with Walt. They were planning Ray and Walt's wedding as well as a possible vacation that they were all excited for. Things were finally starting to feel somewhat normal so as is the way of the universe the other shoe had to drop.

Brad woke up feeling a little run down and sporting a headache, but nothing that had anyone worried. Brad was eating breakfast with everyone on their quiet Saturday morning, when he got up to get a drink and out of nowhere he fell to the floor seizing.

Ray and Nate carefully moved him to the middle of the floor as Walt ran to grab his emergency medicine just in case they needed it. Three minutes came and went as Walt started an IV and administered the first round of medicine. Brad continued to seize violently, his lips were turning a worrying shade of blue as Walt rolled him on his side in an attempt to keep his airway clear.

"Nate help me keep him on his side." Walt directed as he prepared the second round of medicine. "Ray I need you to call for an ambulance, we're going to need to get him to the hospital." Walt injected the meds as he continued to monitor Brad's condition."tell them that he's status epilepticus, and been seizing for 6 minutes." Nate call Dr. Michaels' emergency number and let him know what's going on and that we're bringing him in via ambulance."

Within 10 minutes Ray was guiding the paramedics into their kitchen.

Walt looked up," he's been seizing for 16 minutes, I've administered two doses of diazepam via IV with no response."

As the paramedics went to work getting Brad hooked up to a heart monitor, checked vitals, and a pulse ox reading before placing an oxygen mask on him.

Nate got off the phone and said, "his doctor is going to meet us in Walter Reed's emergency room."

As the paramedics secured Brad and prepared to move him to the ambulance

Nate looked at Walt, "go with him, Ray and I will be right behind you."

Walt nodded and moved with them to the ambulance. As they loaded Brad and headed to the hospital Walt gave the medic Brad's medical history and continued to answer all his questions regarding Brad.

....

Ray hopped in the driver's seat with Nate right behind him as the ambulance pulled out of their driveway. "You sure that you are OK having Walt go with him?"

Nate nodded, "it was the best choice for Brad. He knows exactly what he's given him for meds. He was running this before the medics came, it was best he continued as the point of contact."

Ray shook his head, "fuck this came out of nowhere."

Nate let out a breath, "this is like a bad flashback." Nate clenched his jaw as Ray squeezed his knee. "The meds didn't do anything to help. This is how it started when he had encephalitis."

Ray took a deep breath, "yeah. I'm just trying to wait and see what the doc says when we get there, but that memory is always there."

Nate gave a half smile and looked out the window before squeezing Ray's hand.

....

Walt was pacing in the waiting room when Nate and Ray walked in. "Walt how's he doing?"

Walt turned haunted eyes toward them. "He was still seizing when we got here..." Walt swallowed thickly, "his heart stopped as they were wheeling him back. They kicked me out here and I haven't heard anything new yet."

The color drained from Nate and Ray's faces as they sank into the chairs next to Walt.

Walt shook his head slowly, "he'd been seizing for 45 minutes straight. Fuck he hasn't had an episode like this since..."

Nate took Walt's hand and pulled him down as he wrapped his arms around him. "He'll be OK. He's not going to leave us like this." Nate stated fiercely.

Walt looked at Nate and nodded trying to believe that this would work out. They all settled in together to wait for news.

....

After what seemed like an eternity the door opened and their heads snapped to it as they saw Dr. Michaels. He gave them a reassuring smile as they walked over to them.

"How is he?" Nate asked anxiously.

"He's critical right now, but his vitals are stabilizing. Come on back with me so we can talk about what's going on, and then you can go sit with him." Dr. Michaels guided them up to a family meeting area just outside of the ICU.

Once everyone one was seated Dr. Michaels began to explain where things were standing. "As I'm sure Walt told you Brad had an incident of cardiac arrest. The good news is we were able to revive him quickly. He was down for less than 5 minutes. We were forced to intubate him using nasotracheal intubation, which means the tube is in his nose not his mouth."

Nate asked, " why the change?"

"Due to the seizure activity his jaw was clenched so tightly we couldn't place it in his mouth without hurting him, also should he have continued seizure activity this is safer for him." Dr.Michaels answered. "We took him down for a CT scan, which showed signs of inflammation and swelling, but no injury. So we're running blood work and waiting on the results from a spinal tap to rule out infection. The swelling could be a result of his status seizure or he could have an infection which may have triggered this event." Dr Michaels paused, "so as of right now we're getting him settled in the ICU. He's is sedated and being given phenobarbital via IV, but he has at least for the moment stopped seizing. He's got two IVs in his arm and we're running a continuous EEG to keep tabs on the seizures. We will hopefully have some answers when his tests come back as to what caused this, but there's also a chance we won't ever know what caused it."

"How long is he going to be intubated?" Nate inquired.

"He's going to stay on the ventilator until we know he's not going to go back into status and I would like him off the phenobarbital drip before we look at extubating him. Right now we need to make sure we have his airway secured. As we can lower his sedation levels we'll take a closer look at removing the ET-tube if he's able to maintain his airway and sats."

Nate nodded as Walt asked, "is he going to need a feeding tube again?"

"We did place an NG-tube as he's going to be kept sedated for at least 24 hours. We won't know how slow we'll need to be with the weaning process until we start and see how he reacts, so for now he's going to have the NG-tube. We don't want to put in a peg-tube again unless he's going to need long term support."

Ray sighed, "is there anything else we need to know?"

"I'll be sure to let you know what we find out when his test results come back, but for now you can go sit with him and if you have any questions or concerns feel free to let me or any of the nurses know." Dr. Michaels stood up to take them to Brad's room.

They all thanked him before following him out to Brad's room.

Nate, Ray, and Walt slipped silently into Brad's room, the only sounds were their breathing, the hiss of the ventilator and the quiet blip of the monitors.

They stood there looking at Brad's still form trying to figure out how they ended up in this position again. They noticed the guard rails on his bed were covered in a protective padding, and that Brad was on his back with the head of his bed elevated. They took in the sight of the various tubes and monitors.

Ray whispered, "thank fucking god he's unconscious because this looks so uncomfortable."

Nate gently stroked Brad's cheek, "he's really going to hate this as they lighten the sedation. I'm willing to bet anything that if he's not having any seizure issues as they reduce the sedation that he'll need to be restrained. The NG-tube is nothing it's little but the breathing tube in his nose is going to make him nuts."

Walt carefully held Brad's hand as he looked at the various monitors. He watched Brad's chest rise and fall with each breath. He noticed Brad's left hand was clenched in a tight fist, wrist bent and arm pulled up against his chest, so he moved to the other side of Brad's bed and started to rub the tense muscles in the hope of relaxing them.

Nate smiled as he watched Walt, "what's going through that head of yours Puppy?"

"I feel like we just barely dodged a bullet." Walt whispered as he kept rubbing Brad's cramped muscles. "He's been doing so well and this just blindsided us. What is he going to think when he wakes up? I'm afraid of how this could set him back."

Nate wrapped an arm around Walt's shoulders, "we'll get through it together like always."

Walt nodded his head against Nate's shoulder. "I know we will, but we just need to be ready for the fall out." Walt gave a last long look at Brad before looking at Nate, "I need something to drink do you guys need anything?"

Nate kissed him gently, "a bottle of water would be great. Take all the time you need. Aside from Brad you had the hardest time today."

Walt gave Nate a grateful smile as he turned massaging Brad's arm over to Nate. Ray looked at Nate and jerked his head in the direction of Walt's retreating back. Nate nodded as Ray followed Walt out of Brad's room.

Ray wrapped his arms around Walt as they waited for the elevator. "Are you OK?"

Walt trembled slightly in Ray's arms as he shook his head the crash after the prolonged adrenaline rush started to hit him hard. Ray gently turned Walt around and looked closely at him seeing the tears that threatened to fall. Ray wrapped his arms tightly around Walt as his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

"Shhh, it's OK baby." Ray murmured against Walt's hair as he held him trying to offer all the comfort he could.

Walt clung to Ray, silently crying out his anxiety and fear. "Fuck Ray it was so fucking close. When his heart stopped and the monitor started to wail I thought mine would stop too. I felt like I failed him. I keep wracking my brain to think about what I might have missed to prevent this."

Ray rubbed Walt's back and kissed him gently, "you didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure you didn't miss anything. You are so good with him and so careful with him that I can't ever see you missing anything where he's concerned. You know as well as I do sometimes shit happens and there is fuck all you can do about it. Love, this is one of those times." Ray kissed him again, "you didn't fail him. You kept control and managed this situation to the best of your ability. You kept him as safe and stable as possible until we got him here. There is nothing more you could have done."

Walt nodded as his tears slowed. "I know all of this intellectually, but seeing this and dealing with it I can't help but wonder."

Ray kissed the top of Walt's head, "it's OK if you need time to wrap your head around everything. We're not going anywhere."

Walt finished pulling himself together and led Ray to the cafeteria for drinks, anxious to get back to Brad and Nate.

They spent most of the day just sitting with Brad. Walt, Ray and, Nate trading off rubbing and stretching Brad's contracted muscles. Their nerves were set on edge when Brad had two short seizures back to back, but everyone relaxed as they stopped and Brad settled back into a calm sleep. Nate was holding Brad's right hand as Walt worked on the left when Dr Michaels came into the room.

Ray gave a tired smile looking up from the list he was writing, "hey Doc what's the word?"

Dr. Michaels smiled at them as he started checking the monitors and adjusted Brad's IVs. "The blood work came back clean, but we're going to need to do a second spinal tap as the first one was inconclusive."

Walt frowned slightly, "when are you doing it? How was it inconclusive?"

Dr. Michaels sighed as one of the nurses opened the door and pushed in a cart with the set up for the spinal tap. "We're going to do the tap now but we found red blood cells in trace amounts in his spinal fluid so we need the second tap to ensure the first wasn't a bad draw."

Walt nodded, "OK do you want help keeping him on his side so you can get it done?"

Dr. Michaels smiled, "yes you can help keep him in position."

Walt and Dr Michaels proceeded lower the head of the bed so it was flat and then moved Brad onto his side. Walt helped hold Brad in the proper position with his knees bent and his shoulders curled towards Walt. Dr Michaels looked at Walt after he set up his needle, "OK Walt, do you have a good hold on him?"

Walt nodded before saying quietly into Brad's ear, "they need to do another spinal tap Love. I'm going to be right here holding onto you."

"Ok going to stick in 3,2,1." Dr. Michaels counted down the warning.

Even sedated Brad reacted by tensing against Walt and trying to turn his head into Walt's arm. Walt kissed Brad's neck just below his ear as he held him still. "Shhh, Brad it's OK I've got you. Try to relax. I know it's uncomfortable. Just hang on it'll be done in just a minute." Walt soothed quietly into his ear.

Once the needle was out they rolled Brad back flat on his back. "Alright he's going to need to lay flat for at least 30 minutes. If he shows signs of discomfort let us know and we'll get pain meds ordered." Dr. Michaels instructed.

They all nodded as Walt asked, "his left arm has been really spastic since his seizure is it OK if Ray brings his brace back and we use it to keep his arm from cramping so badly?"

"Sure he can bring it in or we can just get a new one brought up." Dr Michaels offered.

Walt looked at Nate and Ray before replying, "a new one would be helpful since his old one is starting to break down."

"Alright I'll get it ordered and have it sent up. Is there anything else you need?" Dr Michaels inquired.

Brad moved his right arm restlessly toward his face and turned his head looking agitated. Nate grabbed his hand and stroked his cheek. "Shh Brad. Relax Love."

Brad made a choking noise in the back of his throat. Nate grabbed the plastic basin as Walt and Ray quickly got Brad on his side.

Dr Michaels checked Brad over when he stopped vomiting. "Ok I'm ordering an antiemetic and some pain meds for the headache that he's most likely feeling. It happens sometimes after a spinal tap."

They settled Brad back against the bed as Nate observed, "he doesn't seem to be as heavily sedated as he was this morning."

"We're keeping him on the phenobarbital and a secondary sedative, but we've lightened the dose a little. Not enough to make him uncomfortable or have him waking up but enough to keep him under and manage the seizure activity. If he gets too restless or starts seizing again we'll increase the dose to ensure seizure management as well as keeping him calm enough to rest." Dr Michaels answered.

Not long after Dr Michaels left Brad's nurse Marcie came in with his new meds and the brace that were ordered. " hey guys how's my favorite patient doing?" She asked with a sunny smile.

Walt sighed with relief when he saw the brace. Nate smiled, "he's hanging in there. He's been a little restless and I think he might be uncomfortable."

Marcie checked his vitals and monitors before she administered his meds, "everything is looking good. As far as the discomfort the new meds should help."

Walt smiled. "Thanks for bringing this." Walt said as he took the splint for Brad's hand and wrist. Walt went right to work gently massaging and stretching the tightly clenched muscles getting them to relax enough that Ray was able to slide the brace on and secure it in place.

After the new medications were added Brad calmed down and was resting quietly.

....

The morning found them watching Brad, still no closer to an answer about what triggered this episode. They had restrained his right arm with a soft restraint during the night as Brad kept moving it towards his face and they didn't want to take any chances with him pulling on anything. Even now he would occasionally move his arm pulling on the restraint. They had already begun to decrease his sedation levels and he had responded well so far, no seizure activity, but he had yet to open his eyes.

Nate and Ray left Walt with Brad to get coffee. Walt sat next to Brad's bed holding his hand watching as he moved restlessly in his sleep. Walt couldn't ignore that he wasn't moving anything on his left side and this reminded him of the last time Brad had an episode like this. He was hopeful that as Brad became more alert that he would start moving that side and that they weren't experiencing a serious set back.

Brad squeezed Walt's hand and pulled on the restraint as he turned his head side to side.

Walt stood next to him and gently stroked his cheek, "shh Brad. Shh, you're OK. You had a bad seizure and are in the hospital, but you're OK."

Brad pushed his cheek against Walt's hand his eyes moving rapidly under closed lids. Walt gently wiped the corner of his mouth and continued to cradle Brad's cheek. "Can you open your eyes Brad?" Walt asked quietly.

Brad turned his face toward the sound of Walt's voice and licked his lips awkwardly, which had Walt wiping his mouth again noting he couldn't swallow properly with the tubes in his throat. Brad's eyelids fluttered as he struggled to open them. "That's it, you're OK. Open your eyes for me Love."

Brad sluggishly opened his eyes choking as he became more aware of tube in his throat. "Hey, hey Brad look at me it's OK. Don't fight the ventilator, relax and let it work for you. We've been here before, just relax." Walt soothed.

Brad pulled on the restraint as he tried to get at the offending tube. Walt gently held his arm down so he wouldn't hurt himself as he started to calm Brad down. Within a few minutes Brad had stopped fighting and was groggily watching Walt.

Walt smiled reassuringly as he stroked Brad's cheek, "hey there you are."

The door opened and they could hear Ray and Nate talking quietly. Nate asked, "how's it going? We've got your coffee."

They both grinned as they realized Brad's eyes were open. Walt said quietly, "he's awake. I don't know how alert he is yet but I just got him calmed down."

They both moved to Brad's bedside so he could see them easily. Brad reached out for Nate as far as he could with the limited mobility allowed by the restraint. Nate kissed his cheek as he took his hand. "Welcome back Love." Nate said softly.

Ray leaned over and kissed his forehead, "you had us a little worried for a bit."

Walt stood up and stretched taking his coffee from Ray, " I'm going to let the nurses station know he's awake. If he falls back to sleep it's OK to let him. He's still on some pretty heavy drugs."

Brad blinked sluggishly as Walt left the room. Brad kept looking between Nate and Ray and towards the door as they waited for Walt to return. Brad mouthed, _out._

Ray huffed a quiet laugh, "sorry babe the tubes are staying put until the Doc says and so are you."

Brad frowned at them and Nate stroked his cheek, "sorry, Love Ray's right nothing is going anywhere without the Doc's say so."

Brad pulled lightly against the restraint and mouthed _off_.

Nate gave a tired smile as he shook his head, "sorry, we have to wait for the Doc."

Brad gave them a supremely irritated look as he tried to relax exhaustion beginning to pull him back under.

Ray ran gentle fingers carefully through Brad's hair being careful to avoid the electrodes from the EEG before he leaned down and kissed his forehead. "It's OK just rest. We promise as soon as this isn't needed it will be gone."

Brad's eyes slid shut as he was overwhelmed with fatigue and frustration.

Not long after Brad dozed off Walt came back in the room. Walt smiled at them, "they paged Dr. Michaels so someone should be in to check him out shortly."

Nate nodded, "let's hope there's good news and that he can lose the breathing tube."

Walt chuckled as he watched Brad move restlessly in his sleep. He broke into an all out grin when he noticed Brad was moving both his right and left leg.

Ray looked at Walt, "OK what brought that smile on?"

Walt jerked his head in Brad's direction, "this is the first time he's moved anything on his left side since the seizure."

Ray and Nate both raised startled eyes to Walt and then looked back to Brad.

"Let's hope this is a good sign that he's not being set back too much." Nate whispered.

Walt and Ray nodded in agreement. Brad coughed against the tube in his throat and pulled against the restraint.

Walt stroked Brad's cheek, "hey it's OK you're safe, just relax babe."

Brad continued to move restlessly. "Hey Brad relax, it's OK." Walt continued to try and soothe Brad. "Brad open your eyes. You're ok. You're safe."

Brad startled awake choking against the breathing tube. Walt took Brad's hand and held it firmly, "Brad relax, stop fighting. You are safe we've got you." As Brad continued to struggle, disoriented Walt snapped, "stand down Marine."

Brad jerked back against the restraint and Walt's grip before he settled down and awareness started to trickle in. Walt gently stroked his cheek, "hey, easy, are you with us?"

Brad blinked sluggishly as he looked at Walt. He looked around and seemed a little confused but present. Brad reached for Nate's hand as he leaned his cheek into Walt's hand before he nodded slowly.

Walt watched Brad carefully, "do you know where you are?"

Brad nodded and mouthed _hospital_.

"Do you know why you're here?" Walt asked.

Brad shook his head slightly and mouthed _no_.

"You had a status seizure yesterday and your emergency medicine wasn't enough so we had to bring you in. They've had you sedated for the last 24 hours. It's been about about 12 hours since your last seizure." Walt paused, "I know things are a little fuzzy right now but they still have you on some pretty heavy drugs. Just try and relax as much as you can and we'll see what Doc says about removing the breathing tube and the restraint."

Brad nodded slowly as he looked around at everyone before he settled back against the pillow. Brad blinked sluggishly as he fought to stay awake. Nate squeezed his hand as he rubbed gentle circles against his forearm, "it's OK Love you can rest. We've got watch."

Ray watched quietly as Brad drifted back to sleep. He looked at Walt, "do you think we should be concerned at how out of it he seems?"

Walt smiled and gave Ray a gentle kiss, "it's most likely the drugs he's on that has him so in and out. Remember what it was like as they took him off the phenobarbital last year after the encephalitis? He was acting pretty similar to this." Walt paused and looked at both of them, "I'm not going to worry at this point unless Doc says we need to."

Nate and Ray nodded their agreement. Ray sighed, "so now we wait."

Walt smiled and kissed him, "yup, but it shouldn't be too much longer before someone comes in and decides what the next step is."

"Knock, knock." Dr Michaels said as he came in. "I hear Brad has been awake and restless."

Ray snorted, "yeah restless. That would be the PC version."

Dr Michaels smiled at them, "he does have some pretty strong opinions about things so it's not too surprising. I wanted to let you all know that we got the labs back and there were still red blood cells in this second draw infact there was a larger concentration in the second draw. We went back over his CT scan and didn't see any bleeding in his brain, but I want to do a second scan to make sure we didn't miss anything there. This one is going to include not only his head but also his spine. I want to make sure there isn't anything going on at any of his previous injury sights along his spine."Dr Michaels paused, "I'm going to do a quick evaluation with him before we take him for the new scans."

He then turned his attention to Brad when he noticed him starting to wake again. "Brad can you open your eyes for me?"

Brad turned his head towards Dr Michaels' voice as he sluggishly blinked and finally opened his eyes. Brad tugged lightly at the restraint and looked pointedly at his doctor.

Dr Michaels chuckled, "you want the restraint off. Well can I trust you not to pull on anything?"

Brad nodded slightly and lifted his arm towards his doctor.

Dr Michaels unfastened the restraint and took Brad's hand. "Ok Brad we're going to have to check you out can you squeeze my hand? Good now pull up against my hand. Great." He paused as he pulled back the covers, "OK move your right foot. Good now your right leg. Great. Push down with your foot against my hand. Good."

Dr Michaels removed Brad's splint, and handed it to Walt before he continued repeating the process with his left leg and arm. He noted considerable weakness and spasticity in comparison to his right side, but he did have voluntary movement so it was an improvement in the last 24 hours. "Ok Brad you're doing well, but we need to do another CT scan before we consider extubating you. This is just a precaution to ensure we aren't missing anything that could have caused this status episode."

Brad nodded slightly as he listened to his doctor. Within ten minutes Brad was being taken down for his scans.

Everyone moved to the waiting room in radiology to wait for word on the scans. Walt looked at Nate and Ray, "has anyone called his parents?"

Nate sighed, "I honestly didn't even think of it. I was so focused on dealing with this that it completely slipped my mind."

Walt and Ray both shook their heads and said, "yeah us too, but we should think about calling them."

Walt looked at them both, "the question is do we wait until we get the latest test results and give them everything at once or do we give them a heads up that we might have an issue?"

Ray looked at the clock, "well this could get me in trouble, but we should have more information within the hour so really what's a little bit longer to wait. I think in the grand scheme of things we'll be better off giving them as much information as possible."

Walt and Nate reluctantly agreed.

After an hour of waiting Dr Michaels came out looking serious, "OK gentlemen I'm going to have you come back with me so we can talk."

They nodded looking at each other as they braced themselves for whatever the doctor was about to drop on them.

Dr Michaels had the radiology tech pull up Brad's scans on the computer before he started to explain what they found. "The good news is the scans of his brain look good and we are even seeing a reduction in the inflammation. The bad news is the repair sight in his neck has had a complication. We found two bone fragments that have nicked one of the blood vessels that run a long the spinal cord. The good news is there does not appear to be any damage to his spinal chord, but this is where we believe the blood in his spinal tap was coming from as of right now it is a slow leak but we have put a hard collar on him to prevent him from moving his head and possibly causing further damage. We need to go in and remove the fragments as well as repair the blood vessel."

Nate and Ray were looking at Walt who was looking closely at the scans pointing out where the problem spots were to them before he looked at the doctor. "So I'm assuming you're looking for Nate to authorize the surgery so this can be handled sooner rather than later."

Dr Michaels nodded, "we are prepping him for surgery now and will finalize everything as soon as you sign this here Nate."

Nate took the form read through it quickly and signed, "can we see him before you take him back?"

"If we go quickly you can see him before we move him to the OR." Dr Michaels replied.

They followed the doctor out the door and caught up to Brad's bed at the elevator on their way up to the OR. "We'll ride up with him so you can spend a little time with him before we take him back and you head to the waiting room." Dr Michaels stated.

They stood around Brad's bed careful not to get in the nurse's way as she squeezed the ambu bag breathing for Brad. They each took a turn holding his hand and kissing him gently, each quietly reassuring him that everything would be OK, that they loved him and would be there as soon as the surgery was complete. Brad lightly squeezed all their hands and started to drift off. Once the elevator door opened the medical team went one way with Brad while Nate, Ray, and Walt headed toward the waiting room.

Nate took a deep breath and shakily let it out. "Well this was unexpected. I don't even know what to tell his parents."

Ray wrapped his arm around Nate's waist as Walt squeezed his hand. "We call them and tell them he had a status seizure yesterday and that today they found out what caused it. We let them know he's having surgery to repair it."

Nate gave a quiet chuckle, "damn Puppy you always make things sound so easy."

Walt smiled tiredly, "no Nate it's not easy but it's what we've got so we make do." Walt paused huffing out a laugh, "When this is done and he's been taken care of we can all have our own personal freak-outs."

Ray snickered, "yep three mental breakdowns coming right up."

Nate smiled leaning his head against Ray's shoulder, "he really doesn't do anything halfway why should I expect this process to be any different." Nate paused and sighed, "OK I've got to call Anna and Mark."

Ray squeezed Nate's shoulder as he dialed their number, "we'll be right here with you LT. You won't be alone in the breaking of stressful news."

Walt guided them over to the couch so they could sit together while Nate broke the latest news to Brad's parents.

"Hey Nate how's it going?" Anna cheerfully answered the phone.

Nate took a deep breath, "hi Anna I need to talk to you about Brad."

Anna inhaled sharply, "what happened?"

Nate let out a slow breath, "he had a status seizure yesterday so they've been running tests to see if they could figure out what caused it and we got the results about 15 minutes ago."

"How long was he seizing and is he ok?" Anna asked.

"He was seizing for 45 minutes. Once they got the seizure to stop he was sedated for a little less than 24 hours. The tests they ran showed two small bone fragments that had been floating around and nicked a blood vessel in his spine so they just took him back to the OR to remove the fragments and repair the vessel. The doc said he didn't see any damage to his spinal cord on the scans and they were taking every precaution to prevent any further damage before surgery. As of right now that's all the information I have."

"Has he been awake since the seizure?" Anna inquired.

"Yeah he's been in and out this morning. He's been a little restless and disoriented, but that's mostly due to the meds they have him on." Nate replied. "I'm sorry we didn't call sooner, but we were all preoccupied with trying to make sure Brad was taken care of."

Anna snorted, "it's OK Nate I trust the three of you to take care of my son.  You called when you knew what was going on and that things were as under control as they could be." Anna paused, "I wish I could hug you all and tell you it will be OK."

Nate scoffed quietly, "I wish you could too. So far everything is pointing to a good prognosis, but until he's out of surgery we won't know for sure."

Anna sighed, "and you all hate waiting, especially where Brad is concerned. It's going to be ok Nate. I know my son well enough to know he will fight past the point of reason. You'll call once he's out of surgery?"

Nate smiled, "of course I'll call to let you all know how it went. I'll also make sure he gets to talk to you as soon as he's able."

 Anna smiled, "thank you. Try not to stress yourself out too much Sweetie. Give everyone my love and I'll talk to you later. Don't worry about calling the rest of the family I'll take care of it."

Nate replied, " we'll try not too. Thanks for taking care of that and we love you too. Talk to you as soon as we know anything new."

Nate hung up and put his head in his hands. Ray and Walt each wrapped an arm around him. "Well that went better than expected." Ray observed.

Nate nodded, "she just rolled with it so easily.  Sometimes she reminds me of Brad in ways that still surprise me even after knowing her for years."

Ray laughed, "that family definitely leaves you wondering how people can even think nature vs nurture is even a question."

They settled in to wait for word on Brad, each working down their own list of people to notify, mostly their own families but also their close friends. By the time three hours had passed they didn't know what to do with themselves as nerves started to settle in. Ray went to grab them drinks and a snack while Nate and Walt stayed behind just in case there was an update.

Six and a half hours later the door to the waiting room opened revealing Dr Michaels still in his surgical scrubs looking tired but pleased.


	2. Relief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update, work and life have kept me insanely busy the last week.

Relief

"Surgery went well. He had no complications. We were able to remove the bone fragments, repair the blood vessel and rework the repair sight from his initial neck surgery." Dr Michaels paused, "he's going to be in recovery for the next hour for sure, then we're going to take him for a follow up CT scan and x-rays to make sure everything is set and holding. He is still intubated and we will be leaving him with the hard collar for the next week minimum possibly two depending upon how the reworked area is healing."

They all nodded before Nate asked, "when can we see him? Has he woken up enough for you to check his sensory and motor skills yet?"

"It's going to be around 2 hours before he's back in his room and you can see him. He's only just started to show signs of waking so we haven't done any formal checks yet, but I've seen him move all four limbs at least a little as he's started to come around so that's a good sign. Once we've done our formal checks we are planning on keeping him lightly sedated to help him rest." Dr Michaels answered. "I would recommend that you all go get something to eat and meet us back in the ICU waiting room where we'll let you know when we've got him settled and we can go over the preliminary results of his next scan."

They all nodded and shook Dr Michaels hand with replies of "thanks doc" and "see you in a couple hours."

They all let out the collective breaths they were holding relief not feeling like a strong enough word for their feelings.

They went to the cafeteria and ate dinner waiting as long as they could before heading to the ICU waiting room. Nate had sent Brad's mom a text letting her know he made it through surgery, but that they were waiting on further information and he would call as soon as they knew what was up and after they got to see Brad.

....

Dr Michaels met up with them a half an hour after they settled into wait in the waiting room. 

They smiled as Ray said, "what's the word Doc?"

"Everything looks great as far as the scans and x-rays go. There's no further bleeding or fragments, and everything is lined up and looks the way it should." Dr Michaels replied.

Walt asked, "how were his sensory and motor tests?"

"His right side is great I haven't seen any negative changes there at all. Both sides have full sensation, however, his left side does have some  pronounced weakness and spasticity going on. So we're going to need to re-evaluate him for physical therapy, but I expect him to rebound well." Dr Michaels answered.

"Do you think this issue with his left side is from the seizure or does it have something to do with his neck injury?" Nate inquired.

 Dr Michaels smiled, "with the lack of inflammation around his spinal cord I feel comfortable saying that the spasticity and weakness stems from the prolonged seizure activity rather than any damage being done to his spinal cord.  These are similar symptoms to his TBI and his bout with encephalitis. Things can be more pronounced due to the disruption in normal brain activity because of the prolonged seizure, and the fact that he did have time where his oxygen levels were compromised.  We didn't see any new damage sites, but the inflammation can also play a role in the symptomatology that we're seeing with his left side as well."

They all nodded as Walt asked, "so it's a waiting game until he's able to be more alert and he can be evaluated to see how much if any ground has been lost?"

"For now, yes it's a waiting game. The plan is to have him rest tonight and tomorrow we'll see how he does with weaning off the ventilator. If he handles it well I hope to have him extubated by dinner. As long as he stays stable we'll move him to a regular room with evaluations to follow and if he continues to do well we could be looking at discharge by the weekend. Once he's been evaluated we can adjust his therapy schedule as needed." Dr Michaels answered.

Ray and Nate each gave the doctor raised eyebrows before Ray asked, "are you sure about discharging him so soon?"

Dr Michaels smiled at them, "as long as he is medically stable there is nothing we can do for him here that Walt can't take care of at home.  Also Brad will be much more comfortable at home than staying here if he doesn't need to."

Walt nodded and agreed with the doctor, "really he just needs to heal from the surgery. As long as he isn't having any more status seizures that aren't responding to medication and he doesn't have any post op complications, Doc's right, we can take just as good care of him at home.  You guys know he hates the hospital, he never rests properly even with heavy sedation."

Nate and Ray looked at Walt and nodded. "So when can we go see him?" Nate asked.

Dr Michaels chuckled, "you can go in now. He's only lightly sedated at the moment to help keep him relaxed. He's looking about the same as he did this morning. He's been good about not pulling on anything so we've left the restraint off for the time being. I'll be by to check on him before shift change."

Nate smiled tiredly, "thanks Doc."

 Ray turned to look at Dr Michaels, "should I bring his wheelchair back with me when I go to get clothes for him?"

"Sure you can bring his wheelchair, he'll need it for a little while anyway. If you don't have the AFO for his left leg with you bring it in, he might need it for the PT evaluation." Dr Michaels answered.

"Will do, thanks again Doc." Ray stated.

Walt and Nate were waiting for Ray outside Brad's room. Once they were all together the three of them headed in.  It was quiet aside from the sound of the ventilator and the occasional beep of a monitor. The light was low behind his bed and Brad appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Walt gently moved the blankets further up Brad's bare chest, noting how cool his skin felt, and made a mental note to add Brad's fleece blanket to the list of things they needed to bring with them. Ray ran gentle fingers through Brad's hair as Nate took his hand. Brad's fingers lightly gripped Nate's before they relaxed again. Nate smiled at Brad's attempt to reassure him even in sleep. Brad sluggishly blinked and then opened his eyes, half smiling as he sleepily looked at them.

They all smiled to see Brad awake. Nate kissed his forehead, "everything went well Love, and as long as you keep doing so well they're looking to get you off the ventilator tomorrow."

Brad gave a sleepy smile and mouthed, _good_. He blinked slowly before he mouthed, _want to go home_.

Walt had taken the splint off his right arm and was gently stretching the muscles in Brad's hand and forearm, "sorry Brad you're going to have to stay here for a couple of days, but I promise as soon as it's safe to bring you home, we are out of here."

 Brad's eyes slid shut as he slipped back into sleep. Walt finished the stretches before carefully placing the splint back on.

Ray looked at Walt and Nate, "I want to go home and pick up the things we need before it gets too late."

Walt and Nate agreed. Nate looked at Walt, " do you mind staying with Brad if I head back with Ray to help get stuff rounded up. I also need to email some things to work if I'm not going to be there this week. "

Walt grinned, "sure Nate I've got him. Anyway having you guys leave for a little while right now is a small price to pay to have you all here for the week. I'm sure Brad would agree. Hey, don't forget Brad's blanket."

Ray grinned, "it's on my list."

Ray and Nate gave Walt and Brad each a kiss before heading out. The sooner they got this taken care of the sooner they'd be back.

 Walt settled in the chair next to Brad after everyone left. He picked up the book he had gotten at the gift shop while they were waiting to see Brad and started to read as Brad slept peacefully holding his hand.  After a half hour Brad started to get restless. Walt set aside his book and stroked Brad's cheek, "hey, Brad it's alright. We didn't leave you alone, I'm right here." Walt squeezed his hand. 

Brad settled a little but still seemed to be agitated. Walt continued to touch and reassure him until he startled awake. It took a couple of minutes to get him to calm down and relax enough to get back in line with the ventilator instead of attempting to breathe over it. Walt was actually relieved to see him able to breathe over it, taking comfort in the fact that he was only still intubated to ensure that they had control of his airway should he seize or have an emergency situation.

Brad blinked slowly looking a little disoriented as his eyes sluggishly tracked his surroundings before settling on Walt.

"Hey, are you with me?" Walt asked.

Brad rolled his eyes in Walt's direction when he realized that he couldn't turn his head. Walt stood up and moved into Brad's clear line of sight. Brad half smiled and mouthed _want off my back._

Walt kissed his forehead, "let me step out to the nurse's station and make sure it's OK for you to be on your side."

Brad gave Walt a thumbs up.

Walt squeezed his hand before he headed to the nurse's station, "hey Marcie would it be possible for Brad to lay on his side for a bit?"

She smiled, "it'll be fine as long as we do the moving and he has the proper support to keep him in place. Give me one minute and I'll come help you with him."

Brad's eyes were half open when Walt and Marcie came in carrying some extra pillows. Marcie grinned and said cheerfully, "hey Brad, I hear you'd like a new view."

Brad half smiled as Walt and Marcie helped him get on his side. Walt held him in place as Marcie positioned pillows in front and behind him. She did a quick check of his vitals and IVs noting he was due a change and a new round of meds, "Brad, I'll be right back to change your IV and bring your latest meds. Once I'm finished I'll leave you to rest."

Brad gave her a thumbs up and went back to watching Walt. 

After Marcie was finished Walt settled back in his chair as Brad watched him silently. "Would you like me to read to you while we wait for Nate and Ray to get back with your things?"

Brad blinked sleepily and mouthed _please_.

 Walt kissed the back of Brad's hand and settled in to read to him. Brad drifted in and out listening to the quiet cadence of Walt's voice. Nate and Ray stood smiling in the doorway as they watched  two of the most important people to them looking relaxed and just enjoying each other's company.

Ray moved Brad's wheelchair and the bag with his things over to the corner while Nate took the fleece blanket and draped it over Brad. Nate gently kissed Brad's cheek as he tucked the blanket around him.

 Brad reached for Nate's hand and gave it a squeeze as he drifted back to sleep.

....

After a quiet, uneventful night they started the process of weaning Brad off the ventilator. He was handling the process so well that they were already preparing for extubation which had everyone pretty excited.

Just before lunch Dr Michaels came in smiling. "So Brad, you're doing fantastic and I was wondering if you were ready to get the breathing tube out?"

Brad looked at his doctor like he'd lost his mind and mouthed _yes_.

Dr Michaels moved to the head of his bed and proceeded to get Brad in position before he addressed everyone, "alright we've been through this process before. First I'm going to remove the breathing tube and then we're going to put you on oxygen for a while to make sure your SATs are staying high enough. Once we're sure you don't need the support we'll take you off the supplemental oxygen. Any questions before we begin?"

After everyone indicated they had no questions Dr Michaels went about extubating Brad. Brad coughed hard as the tube came out. Once the tube was out Dr Michaels elevated the head of Brad's bed and placed the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. Brad was groggy as Dr Michaels checked his vitals and SATs. "How are you feeling Brad?" 

Brad coughed and whispered, "ok. Can I have some water? My throat hurts."

Walt looked at Dr Michaels before he grabbed his water and guided the straw to Brad's lips after he moved the mask out of the way.  Brad sipped the water slowly before thanking Walt. Walt kissed the top of Brad's head as he slipped the mask back in place.

"When can I go home?" Brad asked hoarsely.

Ray and Nate snorted as Walt gave them his I told you so look before breaking out in a grin.

Dr Michaels chuckled, "as long as you stay stable, have no post op complications, and we get you re-evaluated for physical therapy my hope is to release you by the weekend." 

 Brad sighed, "I can live with that. How long are you keeping me in ICU?"

"If you stay stable tonight I want to move you to the step down ward tomorrow. Once we have you there we'll do the evaluations and start implementing any necessary changes." Dr Michaels replied.

Brad looked thoughtful, "how long does the NG-tube have to stay?"

Dr Michaels smiled, "we're going to have you start eating by mouth at dinner. If you can eat without issue for the next 24 hours we will take it out."

"Once you decide I don't need oxygen can I get out of bed and sit in my wheelchair for a little while?" Brad asked.

"If you keep your SATs up, and we can get you off the oxygen, and you successfully eat dinner yes you can be in your chair for a little while." Dr Michaels paused, "remember Brad you've just had a major surgery in the last 24 hours and while you are doing well I don't want you to push yourself so hard you set yourself back."

Brad gave a tired smile, "I promise not to push too hard, but I'm sick of the hospital already."

"Fair enough. I'm going to let you rest right now.  You are doing well,  if your SATs stay in this range for the next half-hour we'll switch to the nasal cannula and then see how you do unassisted." Dr Michaels stated.

Brad was already starting to drift off as Dr Michaels headed out.  Nate, Ray and Walt sat down and started working out the logistics of bringing Brad home and updating everyone while he slept.

 ....

After they had all eaten dinner Walt and Nate helped support and guide Brad into his wheelchair while Ray kept it still. It was the first time in days that Brad was monitor free. They had removed the EEG leads and wiped off as much of the adhesive as they could with  the promise he could wash his hair thoroughly the next day. The ECG leads had been unhooked but the tabs were still there so they could hook him back up once he was back in bed. The only remaining equipment was the pulse ox and his IV.

Once Brad was settled he looked pale but content.  Nate gently kissed him, "are you ok?"

Brad took a shallow breath, "little dizzy from the move but it's getting better."

Walt took a knee in front of Brad, "when you need to lay down again you have to let us know."

Brad gave him a half smile, "I promise I'll tell you when I need to lay down, or if the dizziness gets worse."

Walt nodded as he took Brad's pulse, "ok."

Brad arched an eyebrow at him, "don't you think you're over reacting taking my vitals?"

Walt rolled his eyes, "no I don't.  You're out of bed for the first time following major surgery without a single monitor save the pulse ox, you're dizzy and if there's going to be a problem I want to know sooner rather than later."

Brad reached for Walt's hand, "I'm ok. You don't need to worry so much Pup."

Nate made eye contact with Brad as he gave a slight shake of his head not to push Walt.

Brad gave Nate a slightly confused look. "Walt why are you so worried? You heard Doc I'm doing fine."

Walt stood up and shook his head as he went to turn away Brad grabbed his wrist. "Walt did something happen that I don't know about to make you so cautious?"

Walt looked at Nate and Ray for guidance as to how he should answer. Nate nodded and Ray whispered, "tell him. He's doing well enough to be told everything."

Walt looked at Brad and took a shaky breath. "Your heart stopped for five minutes right in front of me because we couldn't get your seizure activity to stop. I won't chance something like that again if I can help it." Walt whispered with silent tears sliding down his cheeks.

 Brad blinked surprise washing over his features. He swallowed thickly as he looked at Walt. Brad gently pulled Walt closer to him as he reached up to wipe away the stray tears. "I'm sorry you had to go through that Puppy."

Walt closed his eyes and leaned into Brad's touch, "it's not your fault, but I just need to keep proving to myself that you're ok. So if it seems like I'm over reacting just know that it doesn't feel like it to me."

Brad released a slow breath, " Walt I need you to look at me." Brad paused as Walt opened his eyes, "what happened to me wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. You know as well as I do sometimes shit just happens and there's nothing we can do but deal and try to overcome it." 

 Walt nodded, "I know but it's going to take me a little while to shake the feeling that i missed something that could have prevented this. Intellectually I know that shit just happens and we can't control it, but I still can't help but feel like I somehow failed you."

Brad squeezed Walt's hand as he stated fiercely, "you didn't fail me. Like you said, shit happened and you are a big part of the reason I'm still here." Brad took in a shaky breath before he whispered, "please don't belittle how well you take care of me. We couldn't do even half of what we do without you."

Nate and Ray wrapped their arms around Walt as Nate kissed the back of his neck, "you have never let us down Puppy. Never. If it wasn't for you we couldn't have brought him home when we did the first time. If it wasn't for your devotion to your training this could have gone very differently." Nate rested his forehead against Walt's neck, "don't think for a second that any of us are unaware of how much of a full-time job his medical care and needs can be, or that we just take for granted that you step up to the plate every single time we need you to. None of us could make everything work the way we all need it to without you. You have nothing to feel guilty for Love."

Ray kissed Walt gently, "we love you and need you just as much as you need us. You do everything you can to keep things going smoothly, but you can't control everything. It doesn't make this situation your fault. Copy?"

Walt gave a wet laugh, "god where did I find a bunch of saps like you." Walt sucked in a breath as Ray squeezed his arm. "Solid copy Ray."

Ray smiled, "I know none of what we say will change how you feel right this second but it might help to know none of us think this was your fault, stop beating yourself up."

 Walt gave a tired grin as he shook his head at them. Brad squeezed Walt's hand and said, "I think I should lay down again."

Walt looked closely at him, "dizzy or tired?"

"A little of both." Brad answered.

"Do you think you can stand or do you want me to lift you?" Walt asked.

Brad looked at Walt as Walt nodded to Ray and asked, "can you move his chair over by the bed? Nate can you manage the IV and pulse ox?"

They all worked in concert together to make sure they got Brad safely back in bed. Walt hit the call button so they could get Brad hooked back up to the needed monitors and to have them do a double check on his vitals and meds.

Once Brad was taken care of and drifting off to sleep Nate, Ray, and Walt felt comfortable enough to settle in, hoping for another uneventful night.


	3. Looking Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went in a completely different direction than I was expecting. It's a lot heavier than I was intending. Sorry it's taken so long to update, but life has been insanely busy lately. I hope you all continue to enjoy this story.
> 
> I just wanted to let people know that I still have a few stories in mind for this series and that I might be a little slow to update them as real life is keeping me swamped. I promise is will do my best to update as quickly as I can but most of these stories recently have been written on my phone in what little down time I have. I thank everyone for their patience and I appreciate all the amazing feedback I've been getting. Thanks for reading.

Looking Back

It had been three weeks since Brad's status seizure and neck surgery.  He'd been home for a week and a half.  Things weren't back to normal, but they were better. Brad smiled at Walt as they drove to his latest round of appointments. Walt grinned back and squeezed Brad's hand as he navigated the traffic. 

"What's on your mind?" Walt asked 

Brad gave a small smile, "I'm a little nervous about how the tests will come back."

Walt nodded, "I have faith that things will be ok. I know you're still using your wheelchair most of the time, but your strength and balance are coming back." Walt paused, "I know you're worried that you aren't recovering from this setback as quickly as you wanted to, but things are getting steadily better. It's just going to take time."

Brad sighed, "I know but I was hoping I'd be further along, that somehow I'd get lucky and it would be easier this time. I'm sick of the neck brace, and the spasticity on my left side is still making things difficult." Brad swallowed, "I hate that the seizure activity hasn't stopped completely. I know it's less and the types of seizures are shorter and less severe, but I still hate what it does to all of us."

Walt squeezed Brad's hand again, " I know it sucks, but it could be worse and they are getting further apart as you heal from the surgery. You've had one tonic clonic, a complex partial and four atonic in the last three weeks. That's not too bad compared with the seizure activity you were having before the surgery, the 45 minute tonic clonic and then another six shorter ones in less than 48 hours. I know it's hard to be patient but you've had one atonic seizure this week and it was less than a minute. That's a pretty big step forward."

Brad chuckled, "leave it to you to put things in perspective. I'm trying to be patient and give myself time but I hate feeling like I've put all our lives on hold again."

Walt parked the car and leaned into Brad's shoulder, "there is nothing we wouldn't do for you and that hasn't changed. We don't feel like we've paused anything we've just taken a detour." Walt laughed and arched an eyebrow at Brad, "hell it's not even the worst detour we've taken and you don't have to risk cussing out a superior officer."

 Brad laughed, "fair enough."

Walt hopped out and grabbed Brad's wheelchair out of the trunk and set it up for him. Brad deftly maneuvered out of the car and into the chair. Once he was comfortable he smiled at Walt and started to move for the door, "let's get this over with."

....

Brad lay on the table as the x-rays were taken of his neck and tried not to pick at the IV port they had put in to get him ready for his contrast CT scan immediately following the x-rays. The tech told Brad as he repositioned him, "ok these are the last ones and then we'll get you over for the CT scan. Are you doing OK?"

Brad gave a half smile, "I'm good, just hoping the news is good and this brace can be a thing of the past."

Once the x-rays were completed the tech helped Brad back into his wheelchair and took him down the hall for his scan. The new tech started the contrast IV and helped him onto the table.

Brad lay still as the scan started waiting patiently for it to be over. Once the scan was done and Brad was settled back in his wheelchair they removed the IV and took him back to Walt in the waiting room. Walt grinned, "you good?"

Brad smiled, "yes I'm fine. Glad they're done. Ready to head over to PT before we hear what Doc has to say?"

Walt nodded as he fell in step with Brad, "are you up for PT after all the tests?"

"Yeah I feel fine. I'm actually looking forward to working on walking today." Brad answered.

Cody smiled at them as they came into the PT gym. "Afternoon gents. Ready to get to work Brad?"

Brad snorted, "let's get to it."

Walt and Cody helped Brad down to the mat to start stretching and getting him ready for the bar work and walking.

 Walt secured the gait belt around Brad's waist as Cody set up his rolling stool in between the bars. They helped Brad back into his wheelchair before heading to the parallel bars.  Walt locked out the wheels as Brad prepared to pull himself into a standing position. Cody helped steady him as Walt moved the chair and then stepped in to anchor Brad from behind with the gait belt while Cody sat in front on the stool to monitor and assist Brad from the front if necessary. Brad stood still, adjusting to the position change. Walt couldn't help but think of the first atonic seizure Brad had during one of his first appointments back. They had gotten him standing and he just went dead weight on them. The thought always made him tense and prepare to suddenly need to support all of Brad's weight to keep him from hitting the floor in an uncontrolled manner.

 After a few minutes Brad said, "ok, I'm ready."

Walt shifted his weight as Brad focused on taking a step with his right leg and then shifting his weight to attempt to make his spastic left leg cooperate. Brad painstakingly slid his left leg forward as Cody watched and spotted from the front. Brad took the next step with his right leg and before he could shuffle the left leg Cody rolled forward and manually bent Brad's knee helping to guide the stiff limb through the proper range of motion. The AFO on his left lower leg kept him from experiencing foot drop but limited the range of motion in his ankle, which was good for the time being, so they could focus on getting his hip and knee to work properly first. They repeated the process as they progressed down the bars and back. Once the first pass was completed Cody let Brad take a minute to catch his breath before continuing with his work out. By the time the appointment was finished Brad's arms were trembling with fatigue as he gripped the bars trying to keep himself up. 

Walt looked at Brad, "are you feeling steady enough for me to grab your chair?"

Brad panted, "yeah I can hang on."

Walt looked at Cody, " do you have him?"

Cody nodded, " I got him go ahead and get his chair."

Walt let go, grabbed  the wheelchair and slid it right behind Brad's knees. Cody and Walt helped Brad get settled before Walt buckled the lap belt.  It was one of the few precautions Brad had consented to while he was still having seizures frequently.  Walt touched Brad's shoulder, "are you ok?"

Brad sighed, "yeah I'm fine. Just tired."

Walt squeezed Brad's shoulder, "well let's get you a drink and then see what Doc has to say. See you next time Cody."

Cody smiled as he cleaned up, "have a good day gents. Brad good work today."

Brad smiled tiredly, "thanks Cody see you next week."

 They stopped in the cafeteria to grab drinks Walt made sure to grab a juice bottle in addition to a water bottle. Brad gave him a half smile as Walt asked, "do you want anything to eat?"

Brad cleared his throat, "no we can eat once we're done here."

Walt nodded, "ok but I want you to drink some of the juice.  You didn't eat much at breakfast this morning and you had a hard therapy session."

Brad chuckled, "yes, mom."

Walt glared at him, "do you want to faint or risk triggering a seizure?"

Brad sighed, "you worry too much." Brad paused looking at Walt fondly, "give me the juice."

Walt smiled brightly, "I like it when you let me win."

Brad laughed before taking the juice from Walt's hand and taking a drink. He raised his eyebrows, "happy?"

Walt grinned, "I'll be happier when the bottle is half gone. Come on we need to head towards your next appointment."

Brad screwed the lid on and set the bottle between his legs before following Walt's lead to his doctor's appointment.

Brad finished the juice and made a good dent in his water while they waited to be called back. Brad handed the bottle to Walt so he could put it in his backpack when he was done drinking half of it. Walt looked at Brad, "feel better?"

Brad smiled, "yeah not thirsty anymore."

Once Brad was called back and the usual questions and vitals checks were done they sat in the room waiting for the doctor.  Brad looked at Walt, "this neck brace has to go. I want to move my head around freely."

Walt smiled, " I know it's overdue to come off but with your last x-rays and the atonic seizure activity you were having they didn't feel you were healed enough to take the brace away. Hopefully that's changed."

"Knock, knock" Dr Michaels called as he opened the door.

 Brad and Walt smiled at Dr Michaels as he came in.

 Dr Michaels pulled up the x-rays and smiled at them. "Brad I believe I have the news you've been waiting for.  Your neck has healed enough that the brace can come off."

Brad gave a half-smile, "can it come off now?"

 Dr Michaels chuckled, "let's get you up on the table, let me check you out and then I'll remove the neck brace."

Walt helped Brad up onto the exam table. Walt squeezed his hand, "just be patient a little longer."

Brad sighed and looked expectantly at his doctor.

Dr Michaels went through his usual checks noting continued improvement in the weakness and spasticity on Brad's left side. Once he was finished putting Brad through his paces he smiled, "now for the moment you've been waiting for. Let's get you sitting up and get the neck brace off."

Brad smiled as the brace came off.  He noted that his neck was a little stiff and sore but he could move it with relative ease.  Dr Michaels put him through range of motion tests to check for pain and weaknesses.  He was pleased to discover minimal deficits and pain. Once he finished evaluating Brad's neck he moved over to the small desk and sat down, "good news Brad everything with your neck is ahead of where I was expecting so that's very good news." Dr Michaels paused, "so all your x-rays and scans look good everything is progressing well. Cody says you are making good progress in PT and that you're making up the lost ground that this setback caused. All that being said my next concern is how has your seizure activity been?"

Brad looked to Walt who smiled, "he's had one atonic seizure so far this week so that's an improvement from a complex partial and two atonic seizures last week. He's had two instances this week where he was complaining of auras but there was no noticeable seizure activity unless he was having absence seizures and if he was they were extremely short."

Dr Michaels nodded, "ok those are definite improvements, but we're not back to the complete control he was at before the status seizure."

Walt nodded, "correct. He seems to be getting closer but he's not there yet and it's the one setback that is really bothering him."

"How long have the seizures lasted?" Dr Michaels inquired.

Brad and Walt looked at each other before Walt replied, "the longest one in the last two weeks has been 3 minutes the average has been about a minute."

"How have the after effects been?" Dr Michaels asked.

 "I've been crash sleeping after every atonic seizure and I've been having some issues with bladder control during the seizures." Brad answered quietly.

Walt squeezed Brad's hand offering his support and reassurance, "he's been sleeping for about an hour post seizure. He will often open his eyes right after they stop but he's usually quite disoriented and passes back out within a few minutes. By the time he wakes up from his nap he's asymptomatic."

Dr Michaels nodded as he took notes, "I've been looking at your lab work and with the ongoing seizure activity I would like to adjust your meds. We're going to up the Depakote to your original dosage and add Keppra as a secondary med at a low dose. He did well with this combination before, but there is a risk that this could make the atonic seizures worse, however due to the success we had with it in the past I feel it's a good starting point for him."

Walt nodded.  "Is there anything we should be on the lookout for or be concerned about?" Brad asked.

"There is always a risk of a paradoxical reaction to the meds and that the seizure activity could increase. I'm going to make sure you get the pamphlets for both meds it will cover any possible side effects as well as giving you general information on the medications." Dr Michaels replied. "Aright I've sent the script orders to the pharmacy, if there's any issues give my office a call. I'm going to set up a follow up EEG in two weeks to recheck and monitor your epilepsy. This will be done at 1000 hours and you need to avoid sleeping the night before."

Brad and Walt nodded, "ok we'll see you then Doc." Walt stated.

"Thanks Doc see you in two weeks." Brad replied.

Once the nurse brought them the medication information they stopped by the pharmacy to pick up Brad's latest meds and headed home.

Brad was quiet on the drive staring silently out the window.  Walt squeezed Brad's knee, "hey, are you ok?"

Brad nodded and turned to look at Walt, "I really hate talking to other people about some of these effects.  It's bad enough you, Nate, and Ray have to see and deal with them." 

Walt reached for Brad's hand, "this stuff happens and it's not like you can control it. He's your doctor so he needs to know about all the side effects you have so he can better treat you."

Brad gave Walt a slight frown before staring back out the window, "I know he needs to know everything, but it's embarrassing to talk about how these stupid things affect me. I hate the fact that there is a chance I could have an accident every time I have a seizure. I know it's not my fault and I can't control what happens but it's still embarrassing. I dread the thought of this happening in public and having people stare at me like I'm some sort of defective freak."

Walt parked the car in their driveway and gently turned Brad's face toward him. "Brad you are not defective. You are not a freak. I know this is hard for you and if I could take this from you I would in a heartbeat.  I know talking about it makes you uncomfortable and I wish there was another way, but this is what we've been dealt. None of us are ashamed of or embarrassed by you or any of this." Walt gently kissed Brad's lips, "we love you no matter what. We will be here with you no matter what." Walt kissed him again, "we will do anything we possibly can to help you and support you. We don't care about the accidents, we care that you come out of everything safely."

Brad gave Walt a shaky smile as he rested his forehead against Walt's before he whispered, "even if you have to change diapers like I'm an infant?"

Walt looked Brad in the eyes, "you are not an infant and if they allow you to avoid the embarrassment of the public mess I will change them every time without any thought. We all would.  I know as much as you hate them they make you feel more comfortable and secure about having no one but us see this side effect." Walt stroked his cheek, "Love please understand this isn't important to us. Your comfort and peace of mind is what we focus on. We love you and nothing will change that.  You are not less in our eyes because of this. You are still everything you've always been. I know you perceive yourself as less, but I want to ask if it was one of us would any of this change how you saw us or loved us?"

Brad gave Walt an actual smile, "no it wouldn't. Nothing could change the way i see any of you. You guys are my everything."

Walt kissed Brad again and nipped his lower lip, "we feel exactly the same way, so stop worrying about this. We're with you no matter what."

Brad kissed Walt back, "thanks Pup. I needed that. Let's go in and make lunch."

Walt grinned, "you got it."

After lunch Brad and Walt settled on the couch to relax. Walt picked up his book and the pamphlets they were given about the new meds. Brad turned on a movie wanting to relax after the long morning. Brad's head dropped a few times and Walt set the pamphlets and book aside before getting up and kneeling in front of Brad. He gently cupped Brad's cheek as he watched him blink sluggishly, "Brad are you ok?"

Brad didn't respond as his body went completely limp. Walt carefully laid him down on his side on the couch as he kept a steadying hand on Brad's hip as his  other hand found Brad's wrist to monitor his vitals. Walt spoke soft reassurances to Brad as the seizure passed. Walt gently wiped the corner of Brad's mouth with a tissue when Brad started to move his arm restlessly. He stroked Brad's cheek softly, "shhh Brad you're ok. You just had a seizure."

Brad's eyes tracked sluggishly towards Walt as he made a low sound in the back of his throat. Walt squeezed his hand, "hey Love are you back with me?"

Brad slowly licked his lips and his eyes slid shut as the need to sleep pulled him under.  Walt quickly went to work checking Brad over before grabbing a blanket and getting Brad settled against his side so he could keep him safely on the couch as he slept. Brad curled against Walt in his sleep only relaxing completely when Walt carded gentle fingers through his hair. Walt gently kissed the top of Brad's head as it rested against his chest. "Sleep well, Love, I've got you." Walt whispered as he wrapped a protective arm around Brad's shoulders.

....

 An hour later Brad was still sleeping soundly against Walt when Nate and Ray came in the door laughing at something. Walt smiled at them before whispering, "what's so funny?"

They both looked at Walt and attempted to stifle their loud laughter as they saw Brad sleeping against Walt. Ray grinned, "my newest client makes Chaos seem sane. Hey he's free from the neck brace. How were his appointments today?"

Nate had moved to the couch and gently kissed the top of Brad's head noting that he didn't even flinch.  "He's really out." Nate observed.

"He had a really hard PT session and a slightly strained appointment with his doctor in regards to his seizures and their side effects." They gave Walt knowing looks as he continued quietly on, "then he had a little bit of a breakdown in the car about it on the way home. We worked out his feelings on it, made lunch and finally he had back to back atonic seizures about an hour ago, so he's been crash sleeping since." Walt paused, "his x-rays and scans look great everything is progressing well. Doc was quite happy with how healed the surgical site was."

 "That's great news. We can be less worried about his neck now." Nate pulled the blanket up around Brad's shoulders leaned over to kiss Walt, "I'm sorry it was such a rough day. Did Doc have anything to say about his seizures?"

Walt stroked Brad's cheek as he tensed and let out a quiet whine. Nate rubbed his back and whispered quiet words of reassurance in Brad's ear. Ray knelt next to the couch and gently took Brad's hand as he settled back into quiet slumber. Walt sighed, "he's upping the Depakote back to his previous dosage and is adding a low dose of Keppra back to his daily meds." He grabbed the pamphlets and said, "you're both going to want to read these so we can all watch out for side effects."

Ray sat down on the floor in front of Brad and Walt while Nate settled next to the on the couch they each took a pamphlet and then swapped as they finished. Ray was rubbing gentle circles against the back of Brad's hand. "So this could make the seizure activity and possibly his most distress causing side effect worse." Ray stated with resigned undertones.

Walt replied sounding worn-out and a little stressed, "it's a possibility, but so is extreme fatigue, restlessness, agitation, aggression, disorientation, speech and movement difficulties or we could be completely lucky and all that happens is his seizures stop."

Nate rubbed gentle circles against Walt's wrist, "you're really feeling it today aren't you."

Walt gave Nate a drained, sad look , "you didn't see his embarrassment telling the doc about his BC issues with the seizure activity. You didn't have him telling you that he's afraid people will look at him as though he's a defective freak or that we might think him infantile as we change him following an accident due to a seizure. Believe me when I say this bothers him in ways I didn't fully comprehend until today since he so consistently puts on his Iceman façade that rarely gives away the depth of what he's feeling or thinking. Don't get me wrong we're all pretty good at seeing past it, but if he doesn't want us to be 'burdened' by what he's thinking or feeling he's damn good at hiding it from us and just ignoring it until he can't ignore it any more."

Nate kissed the back of Walt's hand that he was holding while Ray leaned in and kissed him gently before resting his head against Walt's side. Both men reflecting Walt's frustration and anxiety at the realizations laid out before them.

Nate sighed softly, "it's these times that I feel like I'm not here enough. These moments where I feel like I fail you both and don't support either of you enough." Nate looked intently at his sleeping husband, "I know we all do the best we can, but sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough ."

Ray nodded in agreement with Nate, "I feel like because of work there are too many times we let you shoulder most of this part of things alone with Brad and I question what we could do differently to ease both your burdens." Ray paused, "I wish I knew how to make all of this better. I know we hate not being here for everything.  I know we need to work so that bills get paid and things get taken care of, but I feel like we haven't found our balance yet."

 Walt smiled tiredly as he kissed the top of Brad's head and squeezed Nate's hand. "You both do what you have to so I can be here and take care of him. My stipend and Brad's pension help, but you know we still need both your incomes to ensure we can take care of everything and anything that comes up." Walt kissed them both being careful not to wake Brad, "I know if Brad or I needed you both here all I would need to do is say something and you would both make that happen.  I don't feel like you leave us completely on our own. I know we're still trying to regain our balance after this latest setback and that's going to take time. I'm grateful that at least one of us can be here all the time so we don't have to leave him with strangers. There is nothing i wouldn't do to keep that constant available to him and I know you both feel the same."

Ray gave Walt and Nate a half-smile, "I know we all try our best, but on days like today where things have been a little rough it's hard not to feel like we weren't there when you both needed us. I know it's not rational to feel guilty, but it doesn't change the fact that I think we both do feel a little guilty that you guys had a challenging day and we couldn't be there."

 Brad blinked sleepily before whispering hoarsely, "you're both here now and that's good enough for me."

Nate and Ray gave Brad fond smiles before they each kissed him gently. Walt rubbed his back, "how are you feeling?"

Brad gave him a sleepy half-smile, "I have a headache but I feel alright." Brad yawned, "I think I want to take a shower."

Nate grinned, " I'm game for that."

Walt smiled, "well if you two want to go shower Ray and I can get dinner going."

Brad nodded as he started to sit up. Ray moved his chair over so Brad could easily transfer himself to it and go take his shower. He looked exhaustedly at Nate smiling as he nodded toward the hall and started maneuvering himself towards their room. Nate chuckled as he followed Brad.

Once they left the room Ray pulled Walt in and kissed him hard, "I love you and I need you to be honest, if you really needed help with him would you actually say so or would you just make due?"

Walt leaned his forehead against Ray's, "yes if I needed help taking care of him I'd ask." Walt huffed a quiet laugh, "you both act like you aren't involved in any of this, but you both take over working with him and helping us both the second you walk in the door. Today was just a difficult day emotionally for both of us and you and Nate got blindsided with the fallout."

Ray quietly chuckled, "well it's only fair that we pitch in at home when we can." Ray leaned in and nipped at Walt's lip before kissing him deeply. "I love you guys so much and it makes me crazy knowing that there is very little any of us can do to make this easier. It's a really difficult thing to accept when I see you and Brad exhausted and hurting, while Nate and I both look on helplessly because we missed something.  I'm not saying we have missed many big things, but even the small absences start to add up.  We miss little hurts and victories alike." Ray rested his forehead against Walt's, "I know you both tell us how things are going and videos are taken and shared which is wonderful but it's still not exactly the same as being there. I know for our long-term security this is the way it needs to be for now and there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not immensely grateful that you can be here for Brad every day. The consistency that you can provide for his medical needs and day to day schedule can't be quantified in it's impact and importance, but it's hard to not be here all the time to help navigate."

Walt kissed Ray's neck and nipped against the junction of his neck and shoulder, "I love you and I love the fact that you and Nate are so supportive about everything that needs to be done when it comes to Brad's needs medically, but also the way you both support us emotionally without question or failure." Walt kissed Ray, "none of this would work or even be possible without each one of us playing our own part. There is nothing for anyone to feel guilty about, we'll get through this stronger than ever."

Ray kissed him again before he stood up and pulled Walt with him leading him into the kitchen so they could begin making dinner.

 ....

Nate followed Brad into the bathroom. "So do you want to shower together?" Nate asked as he kissed Brad gently.

Brad gave him a tired smile, "yeah I think I could use the help."

Nate started to gently rub the tense muscles of Brad's neck and shoulders. "How's the headache?  Do you want anything for it?"

 Brad nodded as he winced against the bright bathroom light, "it's getting worse, starting to feel like a migraine."

Nate grabbed his meds out of the cabinet before handing him the pill and a glass of water. Brad shakily took the medication and finished the water. Nate pushed Brad into the shower and helped him start to get undressed. Brad normally didn't need much help but he was still feeling the after effects of the seizures and extreme fatigue always made his control more difficult. After Brad was fully undressed Nate carefully helped him transfer to the shower bench, "do you want the lap belt fastened?"

Brad fumbled with the latch as he tried to fasten it.  Nate let him fight with it a little before gently taking the ends and locking them in place. His kissed Brad softly, "I'm going to take your chair out I'll be right back."

Brad nodded before he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the shower wall. Nate moved the wheelchair out and quickly stripped down not wanting to be away from Brad any longer than necessary.  He was surprised at how much the day had seemed to take out of Brad. This was one of the rougher days he'd had in awhile.

Nate turned the shower on and let it warm up before pulling the head and beginning to clean them up. Brad was half asleep through the entire shower. Nate scratched blunt nails over his scalp as he washed Brad's hair. Brad leaned into the touch before resting his forehead against Nate's stomach. After Nate rinsed him off he kissed the top of his head, "you ok?"

Brad slurred, "ddzy."

Nate quickly wrapped him in a towel, unbuckled the lap belt, and laid him down on the bathroom rug. He placed a folded towel under Brad's head. "Are you with me? Does this make the dizziness better?"

Brad made a choking noise and tried to turn his head weakly.  Nate rolled him on his side as Brad started to tremble. "It's ok  Love I've got you. It's just a seizure." Nate kept talking to him in quiet reassuring tones as Brad seized in front of him. 

After a minute and a half Brad stilled going limp. Nate grabbed a rag and wiped Brad's mouth and neck. "You're ok Brad it's done. I'm going to clean you up and get you into bed." Nate talked to him through everything as he went about cleaning him up. Once he was cleaned up Nate looked at Brad's clothes and decided against trying to get him dressed. He slid the briefs back on before picking  up his sleeping husband and carried him to their bed. Nate covered him with the blanket noting the goosebumps that were dotting his chilled skin. Nate kissed his forehead, "I'll be right back Love just rest."

Nate finished cleaning up the bathroom throwing everything in the hamper and finished getting dressed in sleep pants and a T-shirt.  When Nate came out of the bathroom he found Walt and Ray sitting on either side of Brad on the bed. Walt was checking him over as Ray carded his fingers through Brad's hair. Nate smiled at them fondly before joining them on the bed. Walt looked at him questioningly.

Nate replied to the unasked question, "tonic-clonic, approximately a minute and a half. He immediately shifted from seizing to sleep without waking."

Walt nodded as he gently worked Brad's brace for his hand and wrist into place. "Well if we needed any proof of how much of a trigger stress is for him, three seizures in three hours might be a clue."

"Has he had his new meds yet?" Nate asked.

"No the plan was to start the new dosing and new med with his night meds." Walt replied.

 Brad was starting to get restless as he was slowly waking up. Nate took his hand, "shh Love you're ok. You're in our bed we've got you."

Brad squeezed Nate's hand and leaned into Ray's touch as he opened his eyes. Walt smiled, "hey are you back with us?"

Brad licked his lips and whispered, "yeah."

"How are you feeling?" Walt inquired.

Brad coughed to clear his throat, "like shit. Cold."

Nate grabbed Brad's sleep pants and a long sleeve T-shirt as Ray asked, "do you want help getting dressed?"

Brad nodded as they helped him sit up. Nate started with putting on Brad's socks and the sleep pants. Brad pulled on his shirt before leaning into Nate so he could finish pulling up the pants. Nate kissed him and smiled, "do you want to stay in bed or get up and go out to the living room?"

 "Living room." Brad answered.

Ray hopped up and grabbed Brad's wheelchair as Nate and Walt helped him into it. Nate maneuvered Brad to the couch. Nate settled on the couch before Walt helped Brad settle next to Nate so he could comfortably cuddle with his husband. Once Brad was comfortable Ray draped a blanket over them and then followed Walt to the kitchen to grab everyone dinner. Walt set Brad and Nate's food on the side table before giving Brad his night meds. Brad took the medications and finished his water. Nate gently carded his fingers through Brad's hair as he settled back against Nate's chest. "Hey Love are you up for eating dinner?" Nate asked as he kissed the top of his head.

Brad shook his head no and started drift off again. Nate smiled fondly as he started to eat his dinner. Ray and Walt shook their heads before they started eating.  Walt sighed as he finished eating, "I wish we could get him to eat something he's barely eaten anything today." 

Nate nodded, "I'm not surprised that he's not been hungry today with all the seizure activity and the fact that he's had a headache all afternoon.  If he wakes up before bedtime I'll see if I can't get him to try eating some soup."

Walt said, "hopefully tomorrow is a better day and he feels better."

....

Brad slept most of the evening against Nate's chest.  He was good about drinking during his brief periods of consciousness, but he was still refusing food. Brad startled awake shortly after the movie they were watching ended. "Hey are you ok?" Nate asked as he rubbed Brad's back soothingly.

Brad nodded, "just a nightmare. I'm ok." Brad paused, "can you help me get ready for bed. I want to go to bed."

Nate smiled as he kissed him, "sure bed sounds good."

Once everyone was ready for bed they got settled in and Brad and Walt were out almost immediately.  Nate and Ray cuddled close to their partners as they watched them sleep peacefully. Ray looked at Nate, "if things are this complicated for more than a few days we're going to need to consider being here more frequently.  It's not fair to either of them to make them struggle through this alone for so long."

Nate smiled, "I was thinking about what it would take for me to be able to work some half-days from home."  Nate paused, "I know you're winding up a lot of client meetings and now getting into the work that you can do from home at least for the next couple of weeks."

Ray grinned, "I like it when surprise plans come together, but there really isn't anything we can do about it tonight so let's try and get some sleep and deal with all of this in the morning when we've got clearer heads." Ray paused, "we're going to want to include them in our planning anyway to make sure that we can be here when they need us the most."

Nate nodded, "night Ray."  


Ray squeezed Nate's hand, "night LT. Sleep well."

 


	4. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long, work and real life have just run roughshod over me lately. That being said the chapter is longer than I expected so I hope you all enjoy. Life willing I will hopefully be able to get the next chapter posted in a shorter time frame. Thanks for reading.

Moving Forward 

It had been a frustrating few weeks as they waited for the new medications to reach therapeutic levels. The good news was as they reached their effective levels the seizures stopped.  It had been more than a week since Brad's last seizure but after spending two weeks at his new dosages they had begun to see side effects some of them severe. Brad was extremely fatigued, having issues with tremors, muscle weakness and muscle control.  Finally he was having extreme difficulty with swallowing, to the point where his doctor felt it was necessary to replace the NG-tube to prevent aspiration. So Brad was relegated to thickened liquids and only being fed through his NG-tube while they weaned him off the Keppra with the hopes that the seizures wouldn't return and that the side effects would go away.  To say that everyone was less than joyous would be an understatement.  Ray and Nate were home as much as possible, but they still had places they needed to be for work so Walt was continuing in his role as Brad's primary caregiver.  Brad actually seemed to like the days when there were fewer people hovering around him. He hated his current limitations and how reliant it made him on everyone, although he accepted that this was what he needed for now it didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

Nate and Ray had taken to getting ready earlier in the morning and then getting out of Brad and Walt's way. They realized Brad was less agitated if it was just one person helping him. They usually went about making breakfast, setting up Brad's morning feeding and his meds while Walt would help him with showering, shaving, brushing his teeth and getting dressed.

Nate and Ray had just left the room as Walt began his morning routine of waking Brad up. Walt carded gentle fingers through Brad's hair and kissed his forehead. "Time to get up Love."

Brad blinked sleepily and turned his head shakily toward Walt and smiled, "I'm up."

Walt grinned, "are you ready to get up and going?"

Brad shook his head, "if I have to."

Walt stood up and went to grab the wheelchair they had gotten on loan from the hospital as Brad's side effects had worsened. They were back to using the first type of wheelchair he'd ever been fit for so he could have head and upper body support. The muscle weakness and control issues had presented so suddenly, Brad had woken up unable to swallow or hold his head up, all of his movements were spastic and uncoordinated. They had him brought to the hospital by ambulance afraid he was having a serious medical emergency.  After he'd been checked out at the hospital with the doctor's assurance that while this was one of the more severe side effects of his medications it was just a side effect.  Brad was released back to their care with a plan to wean him off the Keppra and the knowledge that it could take weeks for the side effects to abate, and that for now they would use the NG-tube for feeding and the new wheelchair for better support and safety. The plan was that they would follow up with his primary doctor in the following weeks.  Everyone had felt blindsided, but they were all starting to adapt to the latest hurdles in Brad's recovery.

Brad's PT had been cancelled until they could get him in for a follow up with Dr Michaels rather than the ER doctor they had seen. Which left Nate, Ray and Walt had to work with Brad daily doing the exercises and stretches that could be done at home. Once Walt had the chair by the bed he went through Brad's stretching routine. "Ok Brad are you ready to get in your chair?" Walt asked.

Brad nodded, "can we do a shower this morning?"

Walt looked at him, "let's see how you're doing with sitting today."

Walt slowly maneuvered Brad until he was sitting on the side of the bed. Brad's hands were braced against the bed as Walt kept an arm cradling his neck and shoulders while the other hand held his hips in place. Once Brad felt stable Walt moved his arm from Brad's shoulders to chest. Brad was trembling with the effort to support his head and upper body. Brad shakily held his head up for about a minute and a half. Walt grinned, "I think we're going to do a bath today, but that was better than yesterday you added thirty seconds to your count."

 Brad sighed, "ok let's get this over with."

Walt gently picked Brad up and transferred him to the wheelchair before fastening the lap belt and shoulder straps. "Are you comfortable?" Walt inquired running fingers through Brad's hair.

Brad half-smiled as he lay his head back against the headrest, "yeah I'm ok."

Walt moved him into the bathroom and got him stripped before Nate popped in long enough to help Walt transfer him to the bathtub.

 Brad gave Nate a quick kiss before he went back to his morning routine. Walt quickly went to work getting Brad cleaned up. Once Brad was clean Walt called for Nate again who brought in Brad's clothes for the day which he set on the counter before helping Walt dry Brad off and get him back in his chair. Nate smiled at them before asking, "do you want me to stay and help get you dressed?"

Brad reached a shaky hand toward Nate before taking his hand, "don't you need to leave soon so you're not late for your meeting." 

As if on cue Ray poked his head in the door, "Nate we need to get going or you're going to be late."

Walt and Brad grinned before exchanging kisses with Nate and Ray.  "We've got this." Walt replied. 

Brad followed up with, "it's ok. You guys have a good day."

Nate gave him another quick kiss, "I love you.  We might be able to get back early tonight."

Brad and Walt nodded, "see you when you get back we'll still be here."

After Nate and Ray left Walt started to get Brad dressed. Brad scowled at the briefs before Walt slid them on, followed by his track pants and socks. Walt arched an eyebrow at Brad, "what's on your mind?"

"Do we have to do that today?" Brad asked quietly.

Walt gave him an apologetic look, "it's a necessary precaution."

Brad nodded he knew it had been an issue since the side effects of the medication started to present so severely. "It's ok. I just wish it wasn't necessary."

Walt kissed him, "I'm sorry Brad. I wish we didn't need to."

Brad smiled slightly, "me too. I guess I should be glad that it's not a catheter."

Walt chuckled, "true that.  Do you want a shave today?"

Brad looked in the mirror and nodded, "yeah I'm looking a little scruffy."

Walt pulled out the shaving cream, razor and a washcloth before he pulled up the clear tape securing the NG-tube to Brad's cheek as he made sure the tube stayed looped behind Brad's ear. The tegaderm had to be taken off before the shave could be done. Brad was watching Walt shave him through half lidded eyes. Once the shave was finished and Brad's face wiped off Walt took a new piece of tegaderm and secured the NG-tube back to Brad's cheek. Once all that was taken care of Walt helped Brad brush his teeth before moving them out to the kitchen to dispense meds and start Brad's morning feeding. Nate had the syringes lined up the the kitchen counter and the IV pole had Brad's breakfast hung up and waiting. Walt took the end of the NG-tube and started to inject Brad's medications prior to hooking up the formula for his breakfast. Walt checked the rate of flow making sure to set it low enough so they didn't make Brad sick. "Are you ok?" Walt checked.

Brad smiled, "it feels weird, but I'm ok."

Walt kissed him softly, "would you be more comfortable rocked back?"

Brad nodded as Walt moved rock Brad's chair back so he could rest. "You can go eat your breakfast I'm fine."

 Walt moved Brad's wheelchair next to his chair and sat down to eat his  cereal while Brad dozed quietly.

Once Walt cleaned up his dishes he moved Brad out to the living room to let them both be more comfortable while Brad's feeding ran it's course.  While Brad napped Walt started to plan out the rest of their day.

Walt was reading some information regarding new therapy and treatment options when Brad started coughing like he was choking. Walt sat Brad's chair up and started to suction out his mouth. Brad blinked disoriented as he tried to knock Walt's hand away.

"Hey stop.  Brad you're ok. One more second and we'll be done." Walt soothed.

Brad licked his lips as Walt stopped suctioning his mouth out. "I hate that."

Walt kissed his forehead, "I know you do, but you started choking on your saliva in your sleep and I'm not going to chance aspiration pneumonia on top of everything else."

Brad shakily turned his head towards Walt and smiled, "no I'm fine with skipping pneumonia."

Walt smiled fondly at Brad, "how are you feeling?"

"Ok. Little shaky and still tired."Brad replied.

"Is there anything you want to do today?" Walt asked.

Brad cleared his throat, "can we go for a walk when the feeding is done?"

Walt grinned, "sure I was actually going to ask you if you would like to go outside today. It's supposed to be nice out, partly cloudy and not too hot."

The IV stand beeped letting them know the bag was empty. Walt stood up and reset it so it would be ready for next time before disconnecting and capping off the tube and disposing of the used materials. On his way back to the living room he grabbed Brad's jacket, AFOs, and shoes. Brad smiled brightly at the sight of those items knowing they were going to go sooner rather than later. Walt made quick work of the AFOs and tennis shoes before he unbuckled the shoulder straps and helped Brad into his jacket. Once he was buckled back in Walt inquired, "are you comfortable?"

Brad nodded, "yeah I'm good let's go."

Walt chuckled as he grabbed the backpack that he always used to carry anything they might need when going out.  Today it had the emergency medicine and a small blanket just in case Brad got cold. "Alright let's get out of here."

 Walt maneuvered him down the ramp and then started walking them towards the park. "Are you warm enough?" 

Brad shakily turned his head towards Walt, "a little chilly, but I want to keep going."

Walt chuckled as he stopped Brad's chair and pulled the blanket out of the backpack. "Don't worry we're going to keep walking, but this should help," Walt replied as he draped the blanket over Brad's legs and tucked it in around his chest.

 Brad squeezed Walt's hand and smiled, "thanks, that's better."

Walt smiled and went back to pushing Brad's wheelchair. "You're welcome Love."

They were almost to Caleb and Haley's house which was halfway to the park when they saw Haley and Caleb working in their yard. Haley paused in her raking and waved smiling brightly at them. Walt and Brad grinned and waved back. Caleb walked over to the fence, "hey Brad, Walt how's it going? Where's Nate and Ray?"

Brad half-smiled, "doing ok. They're at work. We got bored and decided to go out for a while."

Haley walked over, "glad you're doing ok, we've been worried about you."

Walt put a hand on Brad's shoulder, "no need to worry. Things are getting better."

Brad sighed, "I can't wait to get off the medication that's causing this."

Caleb nodded, "hopefully it goes quickly and you can get back to what you were doing."

"That's the goal." Brad replied.

Walt smiled at them, "it's been good to see you guys, but we've got to get going if we're going to finish our walk before our next meeting."

They smiled and waved them on their way with promises to get together soon.

Brad relaxed back in his chair as they moved on. "we don't have any other meetings." Brad smiled impishly.

Walt snorted, "that might not be true, but you looked ready to go. I know how much you hate small talk.  Also Tim might be stopping by later with some new books for me."

Brad laughed, "I do hate small talk, it always seems tense and pointless." Brad paused, "we haven't seen Tim in a while when was he stopping?"

"Later this afternoon. I'm supposed to text him when we get back home." Walt answered.

 Brad grinned, "it'll be nice to see him."

Walt agreed as they continued on their walk in content silence. Brad relaxed just enjoying the outdoors and Walt's company.

As they headed back towards home Walt sent Tim a text letting him know he could come by anytime and that if they didn't answer the door just to come in.

 ....

Walt was laying down Brad's therapy mat when Tim knocked on the door before coming in. Brad smiled and gave a shaky wave.

Walt grinned, "hey Tim just in time."

Tim chuckled, "you need help with the mat?"

Brad laughed, "no I think he wants an extra set of hands so we can do some more challenging PT."

Tim nodded, "I'm game just tell me what you guys need me to do."

Walt stood up and grinned at them, "we'll get to that in a minute. How've you been?"

Tim smiled, "good just finished my last tour."

Brad's eyebrows shot up, "you're getting out?"

"It's time. My contract is up and I just don't think have another one in me. It's time to do something else." Tim answered.

Walt smiled and reached a hand out, "congrats man. You're staying for dinner so we can celebrate."

Tim pulled him into a hug, "thanks. Yeah I can stay I want the other two to hear the news from me anyway." He paused, "so what's been going on here?"

Walt snorted, "Ray and Nate have been working a fair bit. You know Brad had surgery and then a week and a half ago he started having serious side effect issues due to the Keppra that was added to help with the atonic seizures so we've been working on recovery."

Brad sighed, "don't forget waiting to get into see my primary Doc so I can get back to whatever therapy they think I need to help improve this."

Tim looked disbelievingly at both of them, "you haven't seen your primary? Who ordered the NG-tube and wheelchair change? Who's overseeing your med situation?"

Brad looked at Walt before answering, "they took me to the ER and the ER doctor issued the orders and placed the feeding tube. He also started outlining the steps we need to take to wean me off the problem med, but Walt's been left to handle everything with Nate and Ray until they could get me into see Dr Michaels in two weeks or I get worse and they admit me."

Tim shook his head, "wow. They can't get you into see your primary faster? I would think with the severity of the side effects they would see a need to get you in faster or admit you to the hospital to more closely monitor you."

Walt gave a frustrated snort, "I call every morning to see if there's any openings.  I've been emailing with his PT so that we don't lose too much progress. I've also been emailing with Dr Michaels to make sure we're doing everything we can to make progress until his appointment."

 Brad rolled his eyes, "don't get me wrong they've been great through most of this process but times like this remind me there are still many ways things need to change with the VA system."

 Tim scoffed, "yeah. This is the type of shit that makes people not trust them. So what's the therapy plan for today?"

 Walt set a padded bench next to the mat before he answered, "we're working on core strength, flexibility and mobility. We're going to get Brad out of his chair and lay him down on the mat before we take off his AFOs and the brace for his left hand and wrist." Walt paused before asking Brad, "how's swallowing going? Do you need to be suctioned before we lay you down."

Brad thought about it and swallowed carefully, "I think I'm ok for now."

Walt nodded as he unbuckled the shoulder straps and lap belt. "Ok ready to get up?"

Brad nodded as Walt picked him up and sat him down on the mat. Tim looked at Walt, "do you want the AFOs and his wrist brace off?"

Walt knelt behind Brad to help keep him up right before he replied, "yeah go ahead and take them off."

Walt asked softly, "you ok?"

Brad was breathing shallowly ask he nodded, "yeah just need a minute."

Brad's head rested limply against Walt's shoulder as Tim went to work removing his braces. Brad blinked sluggishly as the dizziness passed. Tim carefully stretched his wrists and ankles after removing the braces. Brad shakily picked his head up to watch what Tim was doing. Once the stretches were complete Walt said, "ok first I'm going to help Brad steady himself in a sitting position and then we're going to work on balance while he reaches to take the different balls in the basket next to you from you."

Tim nodded as he moved the basket closer and Walt proceeded to help Brad sit up away from his chest. Brad was very shaky as he started to sit with minimal support. He was bracing himself with his hands next to his side's in loosely curled fists. Walt had a hand placed in the middle of his back while the other rested lightly on his shoulder so he could help support and control Brad's head if needed.

Tim picked up the first ball as Brad struggled to keep his head up and body balanced before shakily reaching out with his right hand to take the ball from Tim and place it in his basket. Brad kept listing to the left so Walt kept adjusting how he would hold on to Brad to keep him from falling. Tim gave Brad a smile as he took the ball and tried to smoothly move it to the basket. Walt helped him keep his head steady as he fought to control the severe spasticity in his movements. Brad let out a frustrated grunt as his arm spasmed and he dropped the ball. Brad refocused and leaned forward with Walt's support and shakily picked the ball back up and moved it to the basket after sitting back up. Brad smiled as he completed the task.

Walt grinned and kissed the side of Brad's neck, "great job. This is the best you've done yet."

Tim nodded smiling, "that was great. Do you want to go again?"

 They continued with physical therapy for another half and hour before Walt called it. As Walt and Tim were getting Brad settled back in his wheelchair Nate and Ray came home. Ray was laughing as he called, "Honey we're home."

Brad arched an eyebrow, "which one's Honey?"

Nate chuckled as Walt grinned, "I'm Honey, Walt would be Puppy and well you're obviously Sunshine."

 Ray gave a put out sigh, "so what does that make me?"

Tim laughed, "Crazy."

Brad laughed, " _Dzike dziecko._ "

Ray snickered, "sure break out the polish so I can't argue."

Brad rolled his eyes, "would you like me to call  _Babcia_ and you can argue with her?"

"Hell no your grandmother scares me." Ray replied.

Nate smiled fondly at his crazy family before reaching out a hand to greet Tim, "when'd you get back in town?"

Tim grinned, "I started leave yesterday.  I made you guys my first stop once I got back."

Ray smiled, "so we're special. Hey you saying for dinner?"

"Yeah, Brad and Walt already said I was staying." Tim chuckled.

Nate smiled as he went over to Brad, "well then I better get going on dinner."

Nate gave Brad a gentle kiss, "How was your day?"

Brad gave him a sleepy smile, "good, we went on a walk and they killed me in PT. How about you?"

Nate rested his head lightly on top of Brad's, "It was good. Meetings went well and we were able to finish up early. You feel a little warm are you feeling ok?"

Brad nodded shakily, "yeah, just hot from PT."

Everyone headed toward the kitchen as Nate pushed Brad behind them.  Nate and Ray started cooking dinner while Walt took Brad's temperature, dispensed meds and set up his dinner. Walt touched Brad's cheek, "do you want to try drinking something?"

Brad nodded, "I'm a little thirsty."

"Juice or water?" Walt asked.

"Does it have to be thickened?" Brad inquired.

Walt gave a small sigh, "Yes it does your last swallow study didn't clear you for standard liquids."

Brad gave a slight frown, "juice.  I can taste the crap used to thicken it in the water."

Walt grabbed the juice and the thick it, once it was the consistency of honey he brought it to Brad. His kissed the top of his head, "I'm sorry this sucks so much."

Brad shakily grabbed the cup, "It's not your fault.  I just hate this stuff." 

Walt helped steady Brad's hand as he started to drink his juice. When he was finished Nate asked, "do you want some pudding tonight as a treat?"

Brad gave a half smile, "sound's good.  I miss food."

Ray gave a small smile, "I always feel bad eating in front of you. I always worry that you might be hungry too."

Brad snorted," you wear as much as you swallow so I worry about you being hungry too." Brad gave Ray a fond smile, "I'm not hungry I just miss being able to eat and drink what I want."

As Tim set the table and Nate and Ray brought plates over Walt setup Brad's feeding and grabbed the pudding. Nate sat next to Brad and Walt sat on the other side while Ray and Tim filled the remaining seats. Nate started to eat while he held Brad's pudding bowl still so he could feed himself. 

When dinner was winding down Tim cleared his throat, "so I have some good news.  This tour was my last and my retirement is going through."

Everyone broke out in their congratulations and inquires into Tim's future plans.

Tim smiled, "I've got to finish up my testing to be a paramedic and then I've got a few interviews lined up. Oh yeah and Annie said yes."

Brad laughed, "seriously, you hid the engagement in your work plans."

Tim chuckled, "well I couldn't give away all my surprises until everyone was here."

Brad reached a hand toward Tim, "Seriously though, Congratulations."

Tim smiled, "Thanks guys for all the well wishes.  We haven't set a date or anything yet, but we're very ready for this step."

Nate grinned, "Couldn't happen to better people.  I'm really happy for you Tim."

Ray and Walt followed, "what they said."

They all hung out for a while longer before their impromptu celebration broke for the night with plans to get together again soon.  Once everything was cleaned up everyone all headed to bed for the night happy with the wonderful day they had and hopes that things were starting to look up.

 


	5. Getting There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swear I didn't forget about this, but my muse went off on her own and refused to cooperate with my plans. Thanks for your patience hope everyone enjoys the new chapter.

Chapter 5: Getting There

It had been two months since Brad experienced severe side effects to one of his medications.  He was off the offending medicine completely and through hard work he had made tremendous progress in overcoming the setbacks. He was free of the NG-tube and was using his manual wheelchair with short stints of walking with the aid of a cane or one of his partners.

Ray and Walt had gotten out of bed to start breakfast while Nate went to work waking Brad up.  Nate kissed and nuzzled Brad's neck and jaw. Brad cracked a smile as he pulled Nate in for a kiss. "Morning."

Nate grinned before kissing Brad again, "so how long have you been playing possum?"

Brad chuckled, "I was the first one awake but it was nice to get to relax and enjoy this."

Nate smiled as he got up and moved Brad's wheelchair closer to the bed so he could get himself up.  Brad made quick work of transferring to his wheelchair while Nate grabbed their clothes and headed for the bathroom, Brad following close behind.  He parked his wheelchair outside the shower and carefully stood up using the wall for support as he walked unsteadily into the shower.  Nate smiled as he helped Brad sit down on the shower chair.  

"You're getting better at that." Nate observed.

Brad grinned, "it's getting easier.  The PT is finally paying off."

Nate leaned in and kissed Brad before he turned the shower on. 

 ....

While Nate and Brad were getting ready for the day Ray and Walt started to make breakfast for everyone.  Walt was standing at the stove making pancakes while Ray cut fruit.  Walt was singing quietly to himself as he flipped pancakes and began stacking them on a plate.  Ray wrapped his arms around Walt's waist and kissed the back of his neck. "So do you think we'll get to tell him about the trip to California?"

Walt squeezed Ray's hand as he flipped pancakes, "Nate did say we could break the good news today."

Ray rested his chin against Walt's shoulder, "good the wait is killing me."

Both men stopped their conversation as they heard Brad and Nate in the hall.

"Something smells good." Brad observed from the doorway as he leaned against his cane and gripped Nate's arm. 

Walt and Ray turned around and grinned as they saw Brad standing in the doorway.  "Hey look at you being all mobile." Ray exclaimed.

 Brad snorted as he moved toward the table, "finally the hours of PT are making a difference."

Nate grabbed plates, silverware, and glasses setting them on the table next to Brad so he could set the table.  Walt brought the pancakes over as Ray handed the juice and bowl of fruit to Nate before getting the milk and maple syrup.  Once food was doled out Brad looked at each of them expectantly.

"So are any of you going to tell me about the secret you've all been keeping?" Brad asked dryly.

All three gave each other looks before Ray grinned, "there's no secret."

Brad barked a laugh, "right no secret. So the conversations that are going on stop or magically change course when I enter a room are all in my imagination?"

Walt looked at Nate who gave him a smile and a nod before he looked Brad. "It's not a secret we just wanted to make sure we could deliver on our promise before saying anything."

Brad arched an eyebrow at them, "what promise?"

 Walt gave Brad a sweet smile, "we promised you four months ago that we would get out to California and we're late living up to that promise. Walt paused and Ray jumped in, "so in two weeks we're taking your family up on the offer to come visit."

Brad looked shocked as Nate grinned, "we didn't want to say anything until we knew you had the ok to travel and we had things worked out for timing."

A slow grin crossed Brad's face, "you sneaky little shits.  This is happening for real this time?"

Walt grinned shaking his head, "yes it's happening.  There's one other thing if you're not busy in two weeks I need a best man..."

Ray chuckled, " so how do you feel about family vacations and destination weddings?"

Brad laughed and shook his head fondly, "they can be interesting. Yes Walt I do believe I'm free to be your best man in two weeks.  How in the hell did you get Ray to keep this a secret? I know you and Nate are stealthy when you want to be but him? Recon or not he can't keep quiet when he's excited."

Ray squawked indignantly, "I can keep a secret.  I kept this one."

Brad arched an eyebrow, "Walt what did you bribe him with?"

Walt snorted, "I don't know if it was a bribe so much as a threat and regardless it's not important.  He kept the secret and we got to surprise you."

Brad smiled shaking his head. "Ok you guys win.  What's the plan?" 

"We leave next Friday and we'll be gone for a week and a half.  We told everyone about the wedding plan and they all worked out the logistics to be there." Walt answered.

Ray grinned, "It'll be like the holidays all over again."

Nate huffed a laugh, "don't worry we'll be staying in a hotel so we can get away from people if we need a break."

Brad watched his loves with nothing short of amused adoration, "you guys are something else.  Don't worry about me I'm fine with spending time with all our families.  I like that they get along and they are our family they should be there for this."

Once breakfast was finished they worked together to clean up before they went to the living room.  Nate was laying out Brad's mat so that they could go through his stretches and range of motion activities.   Walt and Ray helped Brad lay down as Nate finished pulling out the exercise bands that they would need.  Walt started to stretch Brad's legs then his feet and ankles, before moving on to his hands and arms. When the stretching was finished Walt picked up Brad's left leg supporting it under his knee with one hand while he held on to his foot before bending it at a 90 degree angle. "Ok Nate I'm going to work with him on this side you're going to take care of his right side we'll be alternating sides between sets." Walt paused and looked at Brad, "you remember how this works you straighten your leg pushing as hard as you can we provide the resistance and you push through the movement."

Brad nodded, "let's do it."

While Nate and Walt were working with Brad Ray went to get the bench so they could do the next round of exercises.  Ray set up the bench and sat down on it watching them work. He could see there was a definite difference in his strength from left side to right side.  Nate looked like he was getting his ass kicked a little as Brad pushed with his right leg while Walt was having to help guide his left leg through the range of motion a little more and wasn't having to give as much resistance.  When they finished the sets of the modified leg press Walt grinned, "that was great Brad.  You're doing better than yesterday even.  Do you want to do crunches first or would you like to keep working your legs on the bench first?"

Brad thought about it, "I think I want to do crunches first then the bench work."

Walt held Brad's feet in place as he did his sets of crunches. When he was done Walt looked at Ray and Nate, "would you two help him up onto the bench?"

Ray and Nate helped Brad up off the floor and onto the bench making sure he was stable before letting go.  "Nate I'm going to have you stand behind Brad to help stabilize the bench.  Ray you're going to take his right leg while I do the left. Brad I'm going to have you push your leg up as hard as you can and then pull back as hard as you can."  Walt placed his hand on top of Brad's thigh a hands width above his knee before he placed his other hand just above Brad's ankle. "Ray I want you to place your hands just like mine." Walt watched Ray before looking at Brad, "ok push up against my hand.  Push, push, push.  That's it." Walt adjusted his hand from on top of his ankle to the back  just above his Achilles tendon. "Alright pull back. Pull, pull, pull.  Good."  Walt looked at Ray, "do you feel comfortable with the motions? You're applying resistance for him and you can adjust how hard you resist based on how hard he's pushing or pulling through the range of motion."

"Yep I can do that." Ray answered.

Walt looked at Brad "you good?"

Brad nodded, "I like this one.  Let's get it done."

After Brad finished all his exercises they helped him to lay back down so Walt could stretch him again.  Brad looked at him, "so do you have any ideas on pt while we're on vacation?"

Walt nodded, "I've been thinking about it and talking to Cody to work out a routine that won't be quite as intense as what we've been doing and won't need us to bring any special equipment with.  I know you don't want to lose any ground but I also want you to get to have fun while we're gone."

Brad sighed, "I can live with that."

Brad reached a hand out so Walt and Nate could help him stand up. "I'm going to take a quick shower."  

Ray handed him his cane, "do you want a hand getting to the bathroom?" 

Brad smiled as he took Ray's offered arm before heading to the bathroom.

Walt looked at Nate as they started to clean up the living room, "I can't wait to go to California.  It's been too long since we've been back."

Nate grinned, "I'm interested in seeing if things go as well having everyone out there.  How do you think Kate's going to like flying with Maggie?"

Walt shrugged, "mom will be with her so I'm not too worried. Your sister's going to be traveling with three littles how do you think that'll work out?"

Nate laughed, "she's used to flying with them, also Jace, Lanie,  and my parents will be with then so at least there are plenty of hands.  I still can't believe everyone wanted to do this."

Walt smirked, "hey we lucked out all of our families get along.  I like that they are all going to be there for this."

Nate smiled softly, "yeah we are so lucky."

....

The rest of the day was spent planning the trip and Skyping with their families to finalize plans.  They were all content that after so many set backs and challenges that they had something wonderful to look forward to.  Their vacation couldn't come fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that this was a good place to end this story. The next one will have the vacation and wedding. Thanks again for reading.


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